Enjoyed the information in the thread. I ended up upgrading my Ultrasone HFI-650 DVD headphones to the DT990 Pro to use with my mixamp. I was able to pick them up for around $150.00 and it seemed the best bang for my buck. I am curious if it would be worth picking up another pair for competitive gaming in the future or is the sound positioning more then up to the task. If I do get a second pair in the future I would like to limit the purchase to around $100. Is the AD700 the only game in town for that price or is there another contender for that price range.

Samson SR850 (made by Superlux) have gotten some good feedback from gamers.

Soooo I've never owned a good pair of headphones just ipod earbuds, $10 replacements, and my avatar has been my current holdoff till I get new phones and I used a turtle beach P 21 for the PS3 back in the days of MW2 and Black Ops.

My budget is $300 tops but would rather not spend more than $200-$250 if possible + a modmic. My needs are unique in that in addition to listening on my laptop, I'm looking for headphones that i can use with my smartphone (mp3 player) thus being portable enough to wear around the neck when not in use, For gaming I also need the headphones to be great for multiplayer FPS yet still deliver a great experience for non competitive single-player games too. (I know that there is often a trade off between two)

I use a laptop for gaming now but the PC thread by NAMELESS said to come here for headphone advice

for a newbie am do i need a mobile amp and will i have to settle and get a cheap set of sep headphones/earbuds for my mp3 :/

My needs are unique in that in addition to listening on my laptop, I'm looking for headphones that i can use with my smartphone (mp3 player) thus being portable enough to wear around the neck when not in use.

Well if you want full sized headphones, which usually perform the best for gaming, you probably won't be able to wear them around your neck.

The K550 meets most of your criteria, except for being small. I don't think the AKG K550 is too hard to drive, and the earcups fold flat so they might be able to be worn around the neck (they're still huge though).

There is definitely a trade-off between every quality you listed. I mean, you can have a great soundstage for gaming on your laptop and great music quality for your music listening, but those are only available in full-size, open (even the closed ones are still pretty leaky) headphones. For your mp3 player I would strongly suggest sub-$100 IEM's like RE0 or RE-ZERO (which is similar to RE0 except easier to drive and more expensive) since IEM's are the most portable and can have good sound quality and isolation, but no soundstage.

is it good practice to use lets say a mixamp headphone out going into lets say a fiio e11 or e17 if i needed more umpffffff for my lets say k 701 or HE-400 or HE-500??

Also if yes is the answer does sound quality take a hit??

Anyone know??

I use a ZO2 with my mixamp to add a little extra power and umph -- it works exceptionally well. In fact, I can't even use the mixamp without it now, sounds so anemic in comparison. In the case of the ZO2, sound quality does not take a hit at all so i would imagine you'll get the same result with a fiio.

Hey guys, just a quick Q. Do you guys have any experience with the HFi 2400s? Im basically trying to decide between them,the HD598s and the DT990 Pro (was talked out of the q701). any ideas?

ill be mainly using them for gaming (non-competitive, so am looking for immersion), music mainly pop and rap(although a bit of everything else too), and will be pairing them up with the Asus Xonar STX.

oh and also, the gaming will be mainly FPS, so looking for nice explosions and bullets whizzing past!

and i thought i might add, that the reason i decided against the q701s is because their soundstage is apparently so big that the imaging just doesnt work well with it, which makes directional positioning just sound fake. any comments?

That's utter BS. Those people that call the AKG soundstage 'fake' are using them in STEREO mode, and have no experience with them with Dolby Headphone. The soundstage is just fine in Dolby Headphone, and incredibly accurate, hence why they are among the best on my list. They are literally god mode for your ears. Willing to bet all this 'fake' nonsense comes from those who are listening to music than actual gaming.

Their soundstage isn't much different from the PC360 or AD700 in DH mode, and actually, the AD700 has the largest I've heard.

If you're gonna write them off, soundstage shouldn't be the reason. Id say your taste for rap wouldn't work well with the Q701, but gaming is PERFECT on them.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 5/30/12 at 11:04am